I finished school in a South American country and graduated when I was 15. I had good grades throughout school but never enrolled in any extracurricular activities. In South America there is no 12th grade--the highest grade is 11th grade and high school starts from 10th grade (at least that was what my school system was like). I was one of the top students of my class until the second half of 10th grade.
The reason why I became so disinterested in school was because I was (and still am) shy. I did not like the fact that the school principal would always post my name along with those of other great achievers on a huge wall. I told him many times not to publish my name on that wall, but he always refused. To make matters worse, I fell in love with this one girl, and I did not want her to think I was a lifeless-piece-of-scum bookworm. As a result, I would not get straight A's on purpose and would always create havoc inside the classroom.
Months later, I found out the girl I was in love with had feelings towards me, so I approached her and we became good friends at first. When things were going well, a classmate of mine became interested in her just to have sex with her, and to make my life miserable, he spread false rumors about me. She stopped talking to me as those rumors reached her, and that became a turnaround in my life. I no longer cared about anything nor anyone. I still went to school but did not talk to anyone. Some of my old friends became worried about me; as I spoke about my situation with them, they just laughed at me. One of them happened to manage a small broadcasting station inside the school, and he used it to tell the whole school I was in love with that one girl. That in turn made me become kind of a jester for everyone.
After this, I became really depressed and attended school for half of the day. We were given a 30-minute break, and I always escaped out of school during that time. I used to escape with other two guys I knew from that school and we all went to a ciber-cafe to play online videogames. I did this almost until I graduated.
After graduation, I took 6 months off and started university afterwards. My old friends didn't care about me anymore, so I made new friends at my new school. These friends happened to become toxic people-- they would never listen to me whenever I had an issue and would only use me to help them do their homework.
It took me almost two years to cut them off my life. I always was nice with them and even tried to work our differences out. That never work--you can't change toxic people, and as such they need to be cut off your life.
Each of these sad experiences made me develop depression, anger, and frustration towards the world. It took me about two years to realize that there is only one way to change all of this. I'm about to graduate from my university with decent grades, and I no longer care what others think about me. I try to make the most out of my life everyday by doing the good and productive things I like. Don't let others rule over your actions.
Don't live your life based on other people's expectations from you. Nobody should not expect anything from you nor should you expect anything from anyone. Think of your life as a book and of its sheets as your possible everyday experiences. Don't let others write on that book for you. You are the one and only one who needs to write on it. Don't let people's opinions matter. They're like creases to that book. You can avoid them if you don't let others fold the sheets of your book.
Write amazing things on that book. Once you're old enough, go through that book and read it. You'll feel satisfied once you realize that you wrote good things on it and that no one could stain, tear, or make creases on the sheets of that book. If someone tries to make of your life a living hell, cut them off your life. If you don't, years will pass by and you will, at some point, realize that your life would've been a hundred times better if you had cut those people off your life.
I hope my story and advice can lighten that great achiever inside you. And please, forgive me for any grammar mistakes I may have made. I typed all of this as it came out of my mind and heart and did not proofread anything.